Stradivarius seeks Royal Ascot Gold Cup hat-trick – if rains stays away

The superstar chestnut has dominated the staying division for the past two seasons, winning back-to-back renewals of the Gold Cup, Yorkshire Cup, Goodwood Cup and Lonsdale Cup to claim the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million in both 2018 and 2019.

Having made a pleasing start to the new campaign when third in the Coronation Cup at Newmarket almost a fortnight ago, Stradivarius is the hot favourite to become the first horse since four-times winner Yeats to claim a Gold Cup hat-trick.

However, Gosden is worried about the ground – he believes this was a factor when the long winning run of the colt, owned by Bjorn Nielsen, ended on Qipco Champions Day last October when Kew Gardens prevailed for Aidan O’Brien.

“He’s in good form. I thought he ran a remarkable race in the Coronation Cup. It was a track record for the mile-and-a-half and we were really thrilled with the way he ran,” said Gosden, who landed yesterday’s feature Prince of Wales’s Stakes with Lord North.

“He seems to have been fine since, but the 13-day gap is not ideal. You would much prefer a three-week gap, but I didn’t really want to be going to a Gold Cup over two and a half miles without a prep race and at least it was at home (Newmarket).

“A lot of good horses that he has beaten in previous years like Torcedor, Big Orange and Vazirabad have gone away, but I always have respect for the opposition in the race and any of those are capable of giving us a race. But we know he gets the trip well.”

Dettori already has seven Gold Cup wins on his CV and, like Gosden, the Italian was thrilled with the favourite’s performance behind Ghaiyyath in the Coronation Cup. “It was like running Mo Farah against Usain Bolt – it wasn’t fair!” he joked.

“Stradivarius has been a two-mile plus horse for the last three years and, dropping in trip, I thought it was a good effort. It goes without saying that he’s the horse I’m most looking forward to riding at the meeting. He’s 2-1 on, won two Gold Cups, he’s one of the yard favourites, and he’s one of my favourites.”

The Martyn Meade-trained Technician, the mount of Oisin Murphy, rounded off last season with a couple of big wins in France, including a Group One success in the Prix Royal-Oak at ParisLongchamp in late October.

Meade said: “He seems very well in himself at home and has had a straightforward preparation, with this being a big target. It looks like he’ll get his ground, which is great. There’s obviously Stradivarius in there, but you want a good race and it gives us something to aim at.

“It’s our first run of the year, but the only real option was the Coronation Cup and I’m glad we didn’t run there as the last thing we’d have wanted was for him to have a hard race.”

Meanwhile, Middleham trainer Mark Johnston, who won the Royal Hujt Cup with Dark Vision, runs St Leger third Nayef Road.

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